Tales from today's commute....

[MisterStan]

It's a nice touch isn't it - there's another such 'specialised' panel on the other side behind the open door. Next door's bamboo has started sprouting through the side as well- I could keep a panda in there too now!

Mine is raised off the floor on a couple of old pallets, i have a ground anchor bolted to the concrete floor for security.
I'm just having a chat with my landlord about building something more substantial - I can only get three bikes in the shed, the new one will also double as a workshop if approved.

 

[donnydave]

I've got 4 bikes in various states of repair in the shed/workshop all chained and locked together to make them one enormous tangle of metal. As a security solution I'm pretty happy, it's hard enough getting one bike out when in possession of the corrrect keys/fingerprints/retinas, never mind if your attempting buglarisation.

 

[Boris Bajic]

Not strictly a commute, but a 32-mile round trip to a meeting.

It was HELL. Just HELL. Actually, HELL would be nicer. Not so cold or wet or windy.

The outward trip was just cold and windy, but the return was all that and WET WET WET WET WET.

Puddles like lakes, sploshy cars and trucks giving me about a centimetre of space, rain like shrapnel on my cheeks. I had one of those moments when I look behind just as I get to a gap in a hedge. Why do I do that on windy days? As soon as I got to the gap, a gust took me half way across my lane. Stupid, stupid, stupid. But there was nobody behind me, so it ended well.

Silver lining? A huge one. A skip lorry (sometimes not the best drivers) waited behind me for an AGE without getting too close. In the end I felt sorry for him and ducked into a junction/bus stop and waved him on. He tooted twice and his passenger waved thanks.

Now my legs ache, my pride is hurt by the effect the headwind had on my speed and I think I'm about to die of feeling shivery and slightly sorry for myself.

 

[donnydave]

I share your dismay at today's weather. The tailwind I was hoping for was a playful swirly affair that would at times propel and others punish. At one point I did max out in top gear (48-11) but that didn't last long) For some reason when I set off I refused my overtrousers and was kicking myself within 2 mins but by then it was too late and I was resigned to a soaking. BBB overshoes reached their waterproof limit after about 30 mins. One good thing though, being on the bike completely cleared up my head cold. For 45 glorious minutes I was no longer a snivelling mouth breather. The moment I got off the bike though it all came rushing back.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

The ride in this morning was only spoiled by some poor driving, normally the drivers on my commute are OK, but not this morning, everybody seemed in an awful hurry, apart from that it was dry with a tail wind and no ice or snow to worry about, tonight it was a slog into a strong wind accompanied by torrential rain, I've got wet clothes drying all over the house, I was trying to work out how I'd ended up with a wet arse when I've got full mudguards and a carrier on the bike, with a bag on it, then I remembered the car that came past close and fast through the biggest puddle I'd seen on the way home. gave me a power shower!

 

[PJ79LIZARD]

Wet one tonight and windy, did I care.......no! Beats ice and snow!

 

[J.Primus]

Rainy commute home which wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't nearly get doored on the way home. There's no avoiding door zone technique that could have stopped this one unless I decided to cycle straight into oncoming traffic. The doors on 3 door hatchbacks are huge! Luckily I was about 2 seconds to early and got out of the way. Still a very close call though!

 

[avsd]

First commute in two weeks. It was very wet and windy here in Belfast. Headwind all the way home but hopefully it will be a tail wind in the morning. Cycling along the towpath seen a heron and water hen and very few pedestrians. So not all bad news.

 

[glenn forger]

There's tons of crap at the side of the roads where the snow's melted.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Extremely wet ride home tonight.

 

[gaz]

OH MY GOD! 26mph head wind with +50mph gusts. That was insane today!

 

[Hip Priest]

Had a very close, aggressive pass from a bus this morning, then on the way home I got some stick from a bunch of Inbetweeners-style 'lads' in what must have been one of their mums' cars.

 

[mark st1]

Wet and Wild today. just how i likes me ladies.

 

[ianrauk]

That was a nasty, vile commute home. Very strong winds and rain.
Horrid.

 

[MichaelO]

That was worse than I expected - and I was expecting it to be bad!! Almost blown off my bike a few times!

Time for a hot brew